Great question. They are like very affordable, tiny, tanks!

 

Good question. I do a lot of buying at junk shops and flea markets and funnily enough, in terms of durablility I find Swiss quartz movements to be the absolute worst. Old seikos on the other hand generally start right up with just a quick battery change.

 

Bought an Expedition Scout a little while ago - the crown fell off in a week
mmmm

 

We all believe you.

 

This question applies to Casio too, and they usually are more advanced than Timex movements.

 

Casio for sure. Am in the construction field and use a Casio as my daily watch 3 years and it's still going.

 

You know what they say "takes a licking and keeps on ticking"

 

 

I love those old commercials

 

Q. How can Timex movements be so cheap, yet so tough?
A. It is all a matter of perspective don't you think?

 

They make a well made watch for the money. I have broken mechanical to g shock but have yet to break a timex. Granted each watch is independent and situations different.

I have a 40mm expedition, about four or five years old. My son a year or so ago at age 4 or 5 threw it on our hard wood floor, so hard the back popped off! I pit it back on and it still works.

 

I laugh at all these "What's the most robust automatic movement?" threads.

None of them hold a candle to a $20 Timex from Walmart.

 

I believe that Timex engineers relied on this... KISS! Keep It Simple, Stupid!

 

Now I need a Timex, thanks.

 

Hah! I actually just bought one, first time in many years, after reading all the Timex threads here.

 

That's a dam good question. They designed a better mouse trap kind of thing... I guess.
I imagine it required a top-down corporate philosophy:
-Cheaply mass-produced
-Minimal / simplistic labor
-Disposable / non-serviceable
-Part count reduction
-Part design complexity reduction

I think part of the problem with swiss quartz movements is they are designed to be service-able to some degree, so the intent is that they have removable complex moving parts...???

 

That how it works in good design case. Swatch is built around this philosophy and company founder talked about it in several interviews.
Find target audience and price point.
Design watch around it and let engineers to figure it out.
And Swatches been very reliable despite very simple construction and soo cheap to produce due to design and automation.
People here don't put respect and value in what mass manufacturing is but in order to produce reliably million units a year with only one or two off it take a lot of skills, knowledge and very specific view of the world. Which is about as different from "Artisian" as it can be. i am not picking on any of them just saying focus of one is day/week/month/year repeatability to finest of standards while other is creating something unique and hopefully not 1:1 equal to previous thing.
And most people here don't buy fully "artisian" watches. There is element of skill and experience of mass manufacturing in everey timpiece i see posted on this forum.

 

They well designed and generally speaking any quartz movement is "tough".
Plastic gears are better for shock resistance too. Timex actually makes only handful of movements and they all well known and been around for long time. Keep good time, mostly reliable (they for sure more reliable than Ronda). Even if it was hit hard enough to brake crystal and shutter Indiglo bridge and misplace contacts watch itself would tick.

I had about same positive experience with full metal Miyota movements. Built like tanks and very well designed.

Timex Achilles feet is battery holding springs. Battrey can fly after shock. Not an issue in digital watch because it uses different design. In the past 80s/early 90s Tiemx was using very cheap metal so bending contacts was one time fatal error affair. But they improved a lot.

 

Due to years of R&D, they can take a lickin' but keep on tickin'.......

 

Mass production, automation, and economies of scale.

 

One of the earliest consumer products to heavily rely on a globalized supply chain and out-sourced, foreign labor. They may not have been the first to try it in this industry, but they were one of the first to perfect it. I imagine by now they have it refined to the point of a really high immunity to the various uncertainties of the world in 2022.

 

What requires less service, a Honda Accord or a Ferrari?

 

K.I.S.S = Keep It Stupid Simple

 

Experience!

 

My issue with Timex is poor battery life. I used to carry a Timex Ironman with me when I traveled as a backup, but it seems the batteries don't last much longer than a couple of years. Frankly, it's almost cheaper to replace the watch than the hassle of changing out a battery. My travel backup watch now is a G-Shock with a 10 year battery life.

 

I’ve actually had quite the opposite experience! My 10+ year old Weekender is still ticking on the original battery, and my Ironman is on year 8 of its original battery. My dad has been wearing the same Timex Easy Reader for the past 20 years and only changed the battery once.

 

Same here 48+ two expeditions the first one is plastic (mechanical) before Timex was Timex (I think) the 2nd is I think titanium? No scratches other then the buckle. KEEPS ON TICKING......

 

One of the convenient things about quartz is they're not really subject to long term wear problems. A mechanical movement is under constant tension from the mainspring. A quartz movement is not, which is why they can be made of plastic and work fine for a decades. The main thing to watch out for is delicate parts that can be damaged during battery changes and battery leakage.

BTW someone mentioned Casio... most cheap Casio analog watches actually have Miyota movements.

 

Plastic parts also contribute to the longevity of the movement. Casio's tough solar movements are made with plastic too.

 

I’ve replaced the movements in a few before due to circuits failing. That aside the comments about the high plastic content are right on the money as far as I could tell. The plastic was quite resilient not brittle and probably leads to excellent shock resistance and I’m assuming it is considered self lubricating so no liquid oils to congeal over time and gum up the works. Very few metal bits throughout


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Like Casio I have a number of Timex watches over 10 years old. I don't pay attention to battery life because I do them myself. Batteries are cheap so I don't keep track of battery change intervals.